


Crybaby

by YouAndIForForever



Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Blood, F/M, Fighting, First Kiss, Fluff, Holding Hands, Kissing, Love, Violence, shitty older brothers and uncle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-20 12:16:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13717506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YouAndIForForever/pseuds/YouAndIForForever
Summary: You're the Delancey's younger sister who's a crybaby who catches the attention of a newsie





	Crybaby

You stood quietly behind the counter of The World's circulation counter. The place was silent except for the thunk of the newspaper stacks being set on the ground. The hair on the back of your neck stood up straight and goosebumps textured your skin.

You had a bad feeling about today.

After all the rumors that were swarming after yesterday's events, you were nervous.

The newsboys were calling for a strike on The World and selling newspapers. You had heard from your uncle and brothers that the newsies were planning on showing up today with newsies from all other areas of the city, to show Joseph Pulitzer that they were serious.

You didn't like any of this. The newsies were just teenagers, kids really. They didn't deserve any of this.

Your brother, Oscar, shoved your shoulder, "Hurry up, we ain't got all day."

You turned around and quickly started moving the stacks of papers around and untying them.

You glanced over your shoulder every few minutes as you saw a few newsies start to gather in front of the gates, talking amongst themselves. You took deep breaths, frightened that this was going to end up as a full out fight.

You watched your Uncle Wiesel throw the keys to Oscar and your other brother, Morris, followed him out and over to the gate.

They taunted the newsies for a moment, no doubt saying snide things about their strike. The newsies wondered into the gate and talked amongst themselves for a few moments. You watched as a few boys wondered in after the Manhattan newsies. You had never seen them before.

"Newsies from The Journal." Uncle Wiesel whispered to you gleefully.

They each put down they money, 10 cents more than usual and you handed them their news bags. Their jaws were locked and you could tell they all looked slightly ashamed.

Jack and his group were quickly able to get The Journal’s newsies to their side. The newsies threw their papers down and threw their bags at you.

It took seconds for chaos to erupt in front of you, the newsies grabbing and slinging large at newspaper stacks at the counter. Cries for fair pay rung out.

You ducked behind the counter and covered your ears, praying it would end soon. Suddenly, Oscar grabbed you by the wrist and shoved his brass knuckles onto your fingers.

"Soak any newsie you see with these, don’t let them get you," He hissed and you nodded at him, terrified. He dragged you out behind the counter and threw you out into the anarchy.

You had never been in a fight before and the ones you had seen shook you to your very core. You always had to look away when Morris and Oscar came home covered in blood and bruises.

Suddenly, you were out in the middle of the chaos, Papers were being thrown around and dirt was being kicked around, creating a sort of haze.

Your eyes darted around and you dodged a few people who were running around.

The newsies were running around the courtyard, throwing stacks of newspapers in every direction.

You had no clue what to do. Your brothers had abandoned you to fight the newsies and you had no idea where your uncle had gotten to.

A newsie, there was so much dust and dirt being kicked up you couldn't tell who it was, came running in your direction and stopped just short of running into you when he saw you. You finally recognized him as Finch, the tall, wiry boy with a slingshot in his hands. You stared into each other’s eyes, not sure what to do.

You remembered Oscar's instructions and you were terrified of that the newsie might do to you. You were by no means a violent person but your instincts to defend yourself kicked in. You quickly reached a fist out and just barely, almost lightly, bopped him on the nose.

He blinked at you like he wasn't expecting anything like that when a small drop of blood came running out of his nose.

You gasped and felt tears prickle in your eyes. What had you done?!

"I'm so sorry." You said, voice shaking. "I don't know what I was thinking."

You quickly pulled a handkerchief out of your dress pocket and handed it to him. He just continued to stare at you, eyes wide.

Tears began to pour down your face. You felt absolutely horrible. You stepped forward, hand shaking and gently dabbed at the blood.

He looked down at your hand then back into your eyes.

You suddenly heard a sickening crack from behind you and saw Romeo get backhanded by a police officer. You turned back to Finch and grabbed onto his arm. You brought it up so his hand replaced yours on the handkerchief.

You continued to stare into each other’s eyes for a moment.

"Run," you said, just loudly enough for him to hear.

He finally tore his eyes away from you and looked around at the chaos. He glanced back at you before taking off like a shot out the gates. You watched him go.

-

You felt terrible the next day, the look in Finch's eyes had made you feel sick.

You were behind the counter again and watched as the bruised and battered newsies came walking through the gates.

Your eyes landed on Finch immediately. His nose didn't look any different and you felt slightly relieved. The guilt was still eating away at you, knowing you had inflicted pain on him.

As Finch got closer to you in line, you had to look away. When he was in front of you, you handed him his bag and he took it, but not before pressing something into your other hand.

Your eyes found his and he gave you a meaningful look that lasted a full second before he moved on to give your uncle his money.

You quickly stuffed the object into your pocket before continuing on with your job.

-

Later that day, after you had finished your time at the counter and the chores around the house, you hid away in your bedroom.

You pulled the thing out of your pocket onto to find it was a small square of folded up paper.

"Meet me in the alley between the two lodging houses on Mulberry Street at 4:00 today," it read and had a small, simple drawing of a bird. A finch, you guessed.

You felt your face get hot. Finch must want a real apology, not the poor excuse you had given him yesterday. Maybe he planned to scream and cuss you out for what you had done. You still felt awful.

You sat on your small bed for a while, trying to think of what to do, think of something to make it up to the boy.

You quickly made your way down to the kitchen, an idea in mind.

-

You stood in the middle of the alleyway, not really sure from which side Finch was going to enter from. You paced a little, nervous about what was going to happen. You fiddled with your dress a little and waited.

You heard light footsteps coming your way and you looked over to find Finch making his way towards you. His hat was pulled down so you couldn't see his eyes.

Finch stood in front of you and held out your handkerchief to you.

Your hand reached out slowly towards it and your hand wrapped around it. You glanced up to look at his eyes and they were gentle, held no kind of malicious intent towards you.

Your eyes suddenly filled up with tears and you let out a sob.

"I'm so sorry I hit you yesterday. I didn't mean to, I promise I'm not like that. My brother just told me to and I don't know what I was thinking." You cried, tears pouring down your face.

"Hey, it's okay, it's okay," Finch said, hands scrambling, not really sure where to put them.

You jutted forward and wrapped him in a hug, needing him to know how genuinely sorry you were.

"I've never hit anyone before, I swear." You sobbed.

You felt Finch's arms come up and pat your back, awkwardly trying to comfort you.

You finally unlatched yourself and offered him your woven basket with a small cloth on top of it.

"I'm really, really sorry." You said, sniffling.

"I didn't really think Delancey's could cry," Finch said, looking slightly shocked.

"I've always tried to act tough around my brothers, but I've always been a crybaby." You said, wiping your eyes.

Finch looked down at the basket then back up to your face then back down several times like he was unsure what you were doing. He slowly took the basket and flicked the cloth aside to find the treats you had brought for him.

"I had no clue a Delancey could be like this." He mumbled

"I'm nothing like Oscar and Morris," you said, wiping your eyes off.

"Yeah, no kidding," Finch said, half laughing

He stared at you for a few more moments before saying "I don't even know your name, I just knows yous is a Delancey."

"[Y/N]." You said

"That's a real pretty name for a real pretty girl with a real unfortunate family." He said with a whistle

You giggled, finishing wiping the tears away.

"They're just as bad as they seem." You said with a smile.

Finch quickly scooped up a Waldorf Triangle and took a large bite. You had spent the whole day baking for him. You made him cakes, pieces of bread, pies, tarts, puffs, and sweets, all in travel size.

"Where'd ya get these from?" He asked, "These is the best things I've ever eaten."

"I made them." You said, blushing a little from the unexpected compliment.

"It's real good, I've never had nothing like it." He said eating the rest of the cake.

You felt pleased, Oscar, Morris, and Uncle Wiesel never appreciated you making them something special.

"Is your nose okay? From after yesterday, I mean." You ask shyly.

Finch looked up from the food.

"Yeah, it’s easy for me to get a bloody nose. You barely tapped me really."

"I am, really, really sorry about that."

"Ain't you sweet?" He said, with a half-smile "but yous don't gotta apologize no more. I'd much rather it was you than one of your brothers, even if you did have Oscar’s brass knuckles."

"Think you could take me in round two?" You joked with a smile.

"Not a chance, all you'd have to do is give me that smile again and you'd lay me down flat." He said

You felt your face burn up in that instance. He smiled, chewing on gingerbread.

"Walk with me?" You asked, feeling a little bold.

"Out there?" He asked, looking over your shoulder. "Where the world can see a newsie like me walking with a beauty like you?"

"Come on." You said and started to exit the alleyway.

The newsie trailed after you, quickly swiping his hat off and stuffing it in his pocket.

"Can I ask you something?" You said as the two of you walked side by side.

Finch nodded

"How come you didn't know my name? You know Oscar and Morris's names."

"Is can't actually think of a time when I heard your brothers or uncle say your name," He huffed a little "That's kinda funny, but yeah, I don't think I can remember a time when I've heard your name. The boys actually have a name for you."

“What is it?” You asked

Suddenly Finch seemed to get a little uncomfortable like he shouldn’t have mentioned it. “Oh, well, uh, they call you, uh, Doll Face Delancey actually.”

You giggled a little and Finch looked relieved.

"Is Finch your real name?" You asked

Finch popped another tiny cake into his mouth before answering, "Nah. When I first joined the newsies, I was real young and all twitchy so the boys use to call me Flinch. When I got older I wasn't like that no more so the boys changed it to Finch."

"What's your real name?"

"Ah-ah" Finch said wiggling his finger. "Newsies never reveal their real names to just any bodies, especially not to someone who soaked 'em the day before."

"Not even to a 'real pretty girl'?" You asked, using his words

"'Specially a pretty girl. Jack always says that the moment you tell a pretty girl ya real name, you ain't ever gonna be able to let go of her, even when she don't want no newsie no more."

You hummed at that remark.

"What about Henry and Mike and Ike and Jack? Those their real names?"

"Fakes. I heard that Henry is his middle names but no one can confirm." He paused a little "You sure ask a lot of questions, your brothers put you up to meeting me so yous can get some inside on us newsies?"

You rolled your eyes "Yeah, sure. Gonna take you down from the inside by finding out your real names."

"Hey! It could happen!"

The rest of your day was spent walking around Manhattan and talking to Finch. He was funny and easy to talk to. He showed you his slingshot and his favorite selling shot.

You talked about random things. Your lives, your interests, growing up.

-

You and Finch began to spend every day together after he finished selling. You always met at 4:00 in the alleyway and walked around town or sat and talked in a small diner.

You really liked spending time with him, he the nicest, sweetest person you had ever met. 

He was so interested in getting to know you as a person, rather than just assuming he knew you because you were a Delancey.

Finch laughed at all your jokes and liked to walk close by your side. He always seemed interested what you had to say and your thoughts on different things.

You liked that he thought you were funny and walked so close to you and that he always wanted to know your thoughts and feelings.

Finch was like a bright light in your dim life of mean brothers and annoying uncle. He always let his hands linger on yours when he was getting his newsies bag from you and his face always broke into a large smiled whenever you two met up.

It had taken a few weeks, after the strike had ended and everything had settled down, but you had started to have feelings for Finch. Much, much more than friendship. You wanted to walk close to him and hold his hands, and feel his lips on yours.

But you weren’t sure how he felt about you, sure he paid you compliments but that didn’t always mean he wanted something more. So you decided to wait to see if he would instigate anything.

-

Today you and Finch were walking around a Central Park, you were asking him about the people he saw today and the headlines he had made up.

“Then I told this older fella that a war had broken out in another country, really brutal and everything. Then, this one lady, walking by with her kids, I told her that the zoo had just opened up a new exhibit, one with half human half animal creatures. She accidentally gave me an extra dime cuz she was so excited to read what was inside.”

“If I was walking down the street, and you didn’t know me, what would you say to get me to buy a pape?”

Finch smiled down at you.

“You? Well, first I’d see that you were a real fine, respectable lady, sos I’d know you wouldn’t stop for just no headline. Then when you got closer, cuz I wouldn’t be barkin at you from far away, I’d compliment your dress cuz yous always looking so pretty.” His hand came out and lightly ran his fingers over the skirt of your dress.

“Then I’d ask ya if you’d like a pape, and when you said you’re not interested I’d tell you there was a story in there about someone spotting an angel.”

“An angel?” You asked, biting your lip a little. Finch shuffled a little closer to you, his hand brushing yours lightly.

“Yeah, yeah, and I’d start to describe the angel and you’d stop and think, ‘wait a minute, he’s describing me, what I look like, what I’m wearing’ and then I’d say I was, but that don’t mean that the angel sighting wasn’t real. It’s just happening right then, in front of me, with you.”

You stared into each other’s eyes for a long time.

You took a small step forward and soon your chests were almost pressed together.

Finch reached up to cup your face. He was kind of touchy-feely and you liked it.

"Yous is real pretty, ya know that?" He said, eyes never leaving yours.

"You're really gentle." You said, liking his fingers brushing your cheek.

"I've never really been this close to a girl, even when selling papes. Are all your eyes this pretty?"

"The only boys I've ever talked to is my brothers before. Are boys normally this nice?"

"Do girls all smell this good?"

"Are all boys this strong?"

"Are all girls this beautiful?"

"Do boys always look this handsome?"

Finch's eyes flickered down to your lips then back up to your eyes.

"Do all girls’ lips look that soft?"

"They're not that soft." You whispered.

Finch leaned down and kissed you. You felt a rush run through your body and you kissed him back.

Neither of you really knew what you were doing, but the kiss made your heart flutter.

Finch pulled back first "Theys real soft." He breathed before kissing you again.

You wrapped your arms around his neck and stood on the tips of your toes to reach him better. His hands went to the small of your back and he pulled you close.

This time, you both pulled apart and stared into each other’s eyes for a long moment. Large smiles split onto both your faces and your noses bumped together.

"Can we meet up again, like on a date, a real date, after I finish selling my papes tomorrow?" He asked quietly.

You leaned in to press a few small kisses onto his cheek, “Yes.”

"Lemme walk you home, [Y/N]." Finch sighed, sounding content. He unlatched himself from you, rather unwillingly before offering his arm.

You smiled and took it and you led him to where you lived with your Uncle and brothers. You spent the whole walking exchanging grins and blushing. You stopped about a few blocks from your building and moved to stand in front of Finch.

"Probably better if you don't walk right up to my front door, Morris or Oscar might be home."

"What?" Finch said in mock shock, "Yous don't want your loving brothers to know that yous is my goil?"

You giggled and ran your hands up his arms and stopped at his shoulders, "Your girl?"

Finch suddenly looked embarrassed and reach up and took his hat off, "Oh well, yeah, I was hoping..."

You laughed and kissed him, "Of course I wanna be your girl." You whispered against his lips.

He smiled into the kiss and his shoulders relaxed. He pulled away after a few more moments and put his hat back on his head.

“Bye,” He said, messing with his vest.

“Bye,” You said with a small wave.

Finch slowly backed up and smiled at you. He then turned and raced back down the street in the direction you had come from. You smiled and started to walk towards your apartment. You looked over your shoulder, wanting to get one last look at Finch but saw him racing back towards you. You turned back around fully and suddenly he had his hands in your face and his lips on yours again. You paused for a moment, a little surprised but kissed him back.

"Tomorrow?" He asked, finally releasing you from a long, firm kiss.

"Tomorrow." You said, a little out of breath.

Finch took hold of one of your hands and kissed the back of it before slowly starting to back up, a cheeky smile on his face.

"I'm looking forward to it." He said

"Go home Finch," You giggled, repeating his action and slowly walking backward, keeping your eyes on him until he was nothing but a small spot on the horizon.

-

The next morning you were ecstatic. You were so looking forward to seeing Finch again, it was making you restless.

You tried kept reminding yourself that you were going to need to keep your cool when you handed him his papers, no smiling at him or making googly eyes. You didn't want your brothers catching on and you kind of assumed that Finch probably hadn't told any of the newsies anything yet. You were still a Delancey in their mind after all.

Oscar and Morris opened the gates for the newsies and your eyes scanned the boys, searching for Finch. Their hats and clothes were all pretty similar, but you knew you'd be able to pick your boy out of a crowd, especially after getting all up close and personal with him yesterday.

You didn't see him and figured maybe he was hiding in the back of the line or maybe he was running late.

It wasn't until after the newsies had all dispersed out onto the street that you really started to get nervous. There was no sign of Finch anywhere.

He wasn't avoiding you, was he?

You shook your head and tried to finish up your work as quickly as possible before taking to the streets yourself. You searched up and down alleyways and narrow roads. You checked inside every store you passed, hoping maybe Finch had decided to take the day off and spend it around town. You even went to the newsies lodgings and knocked on the door but there was no response.

You had searched for hours and you felt desperate at this point, heart pounding in your chest and sweat forming on your brow.

You crossed onto another street and saw Jack and Davey selling papes. You ran over to them.

"Jack!" You said, breathing hard

"And what do you want?" Jack said, not looking unimpressed by your sudden appearance.

"Where's Finch?" You asked

"Finch? What do yous want with him?" Jack asked, eyeing you suspiciously.

"Please," you said, voice wobbly, "We were supposed to meet up after he was done selling papers but when he didn't show up today and I'm really worried."

"Yous and Finch. Hanging out?" Jack raised his eyebrows

"Please, do you know where he is?" You begged.

"He didn't come back last night, but I figured he was just out late with Racetrack and Albert at the races." Jack said, rubbing the back of his neck "But I guess Is didn't actually see him today."

You took off running again, feeling like you weren’t getting anywhere with Jack.

You started backtracking and going in the opposite direction of where you had started. After another hour or so you felt like you were going to collapse. The sun was hot and you felt like you hadn't made any progress. You decided to look at another couple streets before turning back and heading home, praying Finch would be waiting back in your usual alleyway.

You turned down a street and found it was pretty empty from people. You walked down the street and immediately heard grunts and noises of pain coming from an alley.

Your heart started beating faster and you cautiously entered the alleyway. You got to the end of it, the noises becoming louder and louder and you peeked around the corner, now at the back of the building.

You brothers were back there, laughing and kicking and punching something on the ground. 

Your eyes widened and you gasped.

"FINCH!" You cried and ran to the bruised and bloodied boy on the ground.

You brothers both looked back at you and Oscar jumped up and grabbed you in an instance.

"Stop! You're hurting him! Please!" You screamed, struggling to get away from your brother's grip. Finch had blood dripping down from his hairline and a busted lip. His cheeks were bruised, as were his arms. You couldn't even imagine all the other abuse that his clothes were hiding.

"A newsie, [Y/N]?" Morris hissed, walking over to you and bending down so he was eye level with you, "Thought you were better than that."

Morris walked back over and kicked Finch in the side. Finch groaned but didn't really move.

"NO!" You screamed and felt tears start to pour down your face "Please, please Morris don't!"

Morris and Oscar laughed as Morris leaned down and stomped on Finch's hand. That seemed to pull Finch from his half consciousness and he yelled in pain.

"Stop," you wailed "Please, stop."

"[Y/N]?" Finch asked, looking at you with one swollen eye.

"Finch," You said, relieved that they hadn't hit him hard enough to knock him unconscious.

Morris grabbed the front of Finch's shirt and pulled him up so Finch's torso was several feet off the ground.

"Listen here, newsie," He spat the word "Don't ever come near our sister again, you got that? Our family is too good for scum like you."

Morris suddenly dropped him back onto the ground with a solid thunk and Finch groaned loudly. Oscar laughed at him.

You screamed again and leaned over and bit Oscar's bicep. You chomped down as hard as you could and tasted blood.

Oscar yelled and his arms that were around your middle let go and shoved you away. You ran to Finch, pushing past Morris, and flung yourself on top of him. You were going to shield him from your brothers as much as you could.

You wrapped your arms around his head and held it to your chest, hoping that would protect his face from any more abuse.

"Don't do this [Y/N]" You heard Oscar grunt from behind you.

"No!" You shouted at them and tightened your grip on Finch.

You felt a hand twist into your hair and try to yank you back hard, but you refused to let go, no matter how much it hurt.

Another hand came down and smacked you hard on your ear and side of your face, you whimpered but did nothing else.

You heard one of your brother’s growl in frustration and grab hold of your waist, trying to tug you off but you held fast to Finch.

“No, don’t touch him, don’t touch him.” You wept over and over again.

This went on for a little while longer, your brothers violently trying to remove you from Finch but failed every time.

"Just wait until Uncle Wiesel hears about this!" Morris shouted. You felt Oscar kick Finch's leg and then frustrated grunts from both of them.

There were footsteps for a few moments and then silence. You slowly turned and saw that your brothers had left.

You pulled back from Finch slightly and saw him staring up at you with his one good eye, almost in a daze.

You let out another sob and placed the softest, most gentle kiss you could onto his forehead.

"Finch," You sobbed, finally loosening your grip and moving your hands to his shoulder.

"I'm alright." He lied, voice sounding strangled.

"What happened?" You said, trying to brush a soothing hand through his hair.

"They jumped me yesterday when I was walking home after we was together. They dragged me here and started beating me, saying they had seen us together and kissing and everything and they would stop if I said I'd never talked to you again." Finch took a moment to try and breathe deeply "I kept saying I wouldn't do it so they kept hitting me. I guess I passed out and they left me here for the night and came back a while ago."

"I'm so sorry Finch." You said, whimpers shaking your body.

"I'd do anything to stay with ya gorgeous, ya brothers don't scare me." Finch gave a weak smile  
You pressed a gentle kiss to his lips, avoiding the part that was bleeding then quickly stood up.

"Can you stand up? I want to get you back home."

Finch nodded and with the help of you and the brick wall behind him, he stood up. You wrapped an arm around his back and placed another of his chest, hoping to balance him, he placed his arm over your shoulders and you started to walk out of the alley.

You hailed a wagon that was driving by and it stopped. The driver eyed you and Finch, but after you offered him a few extra coins along with the fare, he kept his eyes to himself.

You told the coach to go to the newsies lodging house and the horses trotted along.  
It only took about 10 minutes to get there, but you knew Finch had a good chance of collapsing if you had walked there.

You pulled him out of the cart and into the house. No other newsies were there yet so you carefully helped lay him down on the first bed you came to. You scurried around, looking for anything to help him.

You soon were by his side, feeding him a spoon full of liquid pain medication. He shivered at the taste and you handed him a tin cup of cold water. After you started cleaning the blood off his face with your handkerchief and warm water from a small bowl you found.

You gently wiped the blood from his face but Finch still groaned every time the water touched him.

You felt like you were holding it together fairly well, you wanted to stay strong for Finch, not let him see you cry anymore.

After you had cleaned him up as best as you could, you sat down next to him on the bed and held his hand.

Finch looked up at you with a side smile and a small laugh.

"What?" You asked, having no clue what he could possibly find funny in this situation.

"My nose is the only thing ya brothers left untouched on my body, but I guess another Delancey got to that already."

You burst into tears and hid your face in your hands.

"I was only joking, [Y/N]." He said and you felt hands on your arms, pulling you down.

You allowed yourself to be brought down and held to his chest, still sobbing.

"I don't care what your family thinks, I still wanna be with ya." He whispered into your hair

"I don't want you to get hurt again, Finch."

“John.” He said weakly

“What?” You asked

“That’s my real name, John. And I don't care if your brothers beat me to a bloody pulp every day, I ain't leaving your side."

A fresh wave of tears slid down your face. "I won’t leave your side either. I love you, John," You sniffled.

Finch sort of shot up in the bed and you moved with him to look him in the eye,

"I love you too, [Y/N]." He said

You kissed him over and over again, tears still sliding down your cheeks.

Both of you finally settled down on the bed and snuggled together. Finch's breathing seemed a little labored but he quickly dropped off to sleep.

You started to do the same, slightly scared of what it would be like to see your brothers again but comforted knowing Finch would stand by you no matter what.

-

It was several hours later when the newsies all started to arrive back at the lodging house, very confused what had happened to Finch and why you, a Delancey, were cuddled up to him, but they decided they would wait for the both of you to wake up on your own to start asking questions.

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is you-and-i-for-forever so come watch me reblog things about newsies and other stuff.  
> Don't forget to smash that kudos button and leave me a comment if you want to see more fics like this.


End file.
